DES MOINES, Iowa – Lionel Larry couldn’t have come any closer to winning the 400-meter title in the NCAA Track and Field Championships at Drake Stadium on Saturday.

The USC senior finished second to Andretti Bain of Oral Roberts by a hundredth of a second, 44.62 to 44.63, in a race that produced the top two collegiate times in the nation this season.

It was the second consecutive year that Larry had come up short in a close finish in the NCAA championships. In 2007, the Dominguez High graduate finished second by two hundredths of a second.

“I’ve lost two national championships by less than three hundredths of a second so I can’t be mad but I am real mad,” Larry said. “It’s been on my mind for a year and to come close again it burns me up but that’s life.”

Like Larry, USC senior and Wilson alumnus Carol Rodriguez also came up short in the women’s 400 meters despite equaling her school and Puerto Rican national record in 51.39.

Rodriguez, a 2006 NCAA All-American in the 100, 200 and 400 relay, ran the 400 for the first time in the NCAA meet in order to prevent aggravating a left hamstring strain that sidelined her from the sprints.

Long Beach State senior Brent Gray (Banning High) earned All-American honors for the second year in a row in the 200, placing fifth in 20.88 in a race won by collegiate record holder Walter Dix of Florida State in 20.40.

In the 400, Larry had entered the meet with nation’s top collegiate time of 44.67 but drew the seventh lane in the final after finishing second in his semifinal on Friday.

Larry trailed Bain, LeJerald Betters of Baylor and Jordan Boase of Washington in lanes 4 through 7 coming onto the homestretch before the race turned into a duel between 2007 NCAA Indoor champion Bain and Larry down the homestretch.

Bain out-leaned Larry at the finish for the win. Larry, who shaved two hundredths of a second off his career-best to improve on his No. 3 ranking on the USC all-time list, flexed his arms and shouted thinking that he had won.

When the results were displayed on the video board. Larry fell face down on the track and lay there for several moments before walking sullenly off the oval.

“I left it all on the track. I mean I have a lot of things going on in my head right now,” said Larry, bent over with his hands on his knees in the mixed zone. “I couldn’t have asked for a better race. I (ran a personal best) but it was not a win.

“That’s what hurts the most.”

Larry’s runner-up finish did help USC tie for seventh in the team standings with Baylor with 27 points. Florida State defeated LSU, 52-44, to win the team title for the third year in a row. USC also received points from seniors Duane Solomon and Kai Kelley.

Solomon, a member of the 2007 U.S. World Championship team, placed third in the 800 meters in 1:45.71 and Kelley, who placed seventh in the 400 hurdles on Friday, was sixth in the 110 hurdles in 13.80.

In the women’s competition, LSU defeated defending champion Arizona State, 67-63, by placing second in the 1,600 relay in the final event to break a 59-59 tie.

USC placed 11th with 21 points behind Rodriguez and sophomore Shalina Clarke who placed eighth in the 100 hurdles in 13.54. Trojan sophomore Shana Woods, a Poly graduate, was a non-scoring 16th in the heptathlon with 5,370 points.

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